Power
by Ikonopeiston
Summary: This is the third of a series of short stories completing the interrupted commsphere conversation between Nooj and Gippal. It is AU.


5/27/07

The characters herein are the sole property of Square-Enix. The hoops through which I make them jump are mine.

**Power**

Nooj: If you're done playing, let's go.

Gippal: Chill out.

Nooj: Lost your nerve?

Gippal: Hey, we're talking about Vegnagun. How the heck do you fight that thing? We can't even walk up to it without freakin' it out.

Nooj: Or making it mad. But I've got a plan.

Gippal: If it doesn't work?

Nooj: Death will be my apology.

Gippal: Whatever, man. When a Deathseeker dies, that's no apology. What about Leblanc?

Nooj: Well, she—

The tall man paused and set his lips firmly together.

"C'mon, Nooj. We've got a long ways to walk, might as well talk while we go."

Gippal wheedled. He was never happy with silence.

"Must we talk about my affairs? How about your own private life?" Nooj did not turn, keeping his eyes directly ahead.

"My life's so dull and so ordinary it's not worth talking about. Unless you want to hear about what I did with ..."

"No. Spare me the sordid details of your carnal adventures. I hear enough of those from the hangers-on at Youth League Headquarters. Sometimes I think if men and women fought as well as they fornicate, we would be finished and done with our enemies long since." He set as brisk a pace as he could with his limp, apparently hoping to discourage further conversation.

"So, if you don't want to hear about four legs - or sometimes six - in a bed, what do you want to hear? Want me to tell you how to tear down an engine or clean and reassemble a flame rifle?"

"No. I would like to have a little peace and quiet on my way to this encounter with Vegnagun. We are likely to find a difficult job ahead of us."

Gippal grinned and slapped his companion on the shoulder even though he had to stretch up to do so. "That's why we need to get our minds off the subject, keep us fresh for battle. No sense fighting before we see the enemy. Well ... if you turn down all my ideas, we'll just have to talk about you. So, what about LeBlanc?"

Nooj snorted. "What about her?"

"She's on your tail all the time. You ever let her catch you?"

"We do business from time to time." He turned and fixed Gippal with a glare that prevented the Al Bhed from uttering the disbelief which was on his lips. "Purely business. I am collecting historical spheres and she's a sphere-hunter who knows I'll pay a fair price for any she finds which interest me. That's it."

"Spheres? You stay the night in her chateau buying spheres? Tell me another one!"

"That's it. That's all there is."

"You have to be getting some somewhere. I just though LeBlanc would be convenient and easy. If not her, then who?"

"Has it occured to you that my libido is none of your business?"

Gippal was totally unrepentant. "Nope. I know you being crippled and all that doesn't keep the women away. Did you know you've got a fan club of women and probably some men in the Youth League? They get together and talk about you and trade pictures they take without you knowing it."

Nooj stopped short and stared at Gippal with an appalled expression. "What in the name of Ixion makes you think that?"

"I've heard talk; just about everybody has. You're a romantic ideal to the long-haired dreamers who hang around Mushroom Rock Road." Gippal's single eye glittered with laughter and mischief. "Talk to anybody on the way into your camp and you'll get an earful. Well, maybe not you, but anybody else. Man, you've got the power in that place."

"Power!" The other laughed bitterly. "Power? They don't know what they're talking about. I have no power."

"They think you've got enough to make every last one of them happy for the rest of their lives. You ought to hear some of the dreams they have about you. I'd like to hear some of the dreams LeBlanc must have. Noojster, you're the man. How do you do it? Do you portion yourself out in small pieces so a lot of them each get a little or do you pick one for a time until you use her up and go on to another? You can tell me; I can keep a secret."

"Can you? One of these days I may test your word on that. But not today."

"C'mon, Noojie..."

"Don't call me that!" The Meyvn raised his cane as though to strike his companion. "You know better than to call me that."

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking. Seriously, I can keep a secret. You may not think so but I can and have ... many times. For a lot of different people. I tease a lot but I can keep my mouth shut when it's important."

Nooj walked on ahead for a while with Gippal trotting behind silently. Then the tall man shook himself as though shedding a burden which had become too heavy and began speaking quietly as if to himself.

"Maybe you can be trusted and since we will both probably die when we find Baralai and Vegnagun, it no longer matters if you know. I have no power; in the most literal sense, I have no power. Do you know another word for 'power'? Yes, that one. That's gone. It went with my leg. You are the only one save my doctors and me who knows the extent of my injuries. So your questions are a mockery. Are you satisfied now?" He did not meet the other's eye.

"Oh god, Nooj. I'm sorry. I never meant..."

"No, I'm sure you didn't. Now drop it."

"Can't they do something? I know our engineers are ..."

"Drop it."

"Is that why you're ...?"

"Taydrcaagan? I know your word for what I am. And it's not your business. But I ask you this ... were it you, what would you do?"

Gippal had no words left and the two walked in silence toward their rendezvous with fate.

4


End file.
